CDNetworks (KOSDAQ: 073710), the world’s third largest, and Asia’s #1, full-service content delivery network (CDN), announced that New York-based Emerging Pictures has selected it to provide the low-cost delivery of large HD-file downloads for its “100% green” data delivery platform, enabling a new technology and business model for cinema. CDNetworks, founded in 2000 in Seoul, Korea, has subsidiaries in the US, China, and Japan.

Emerging Pictures considered using satellite technology for their file-download system, but found CDNetworks’ digital large-file-download solution to be much more cost-effective. Data-network delivery also compares very favorably to the cost of cloning, shipping, and retrieving hard drives and makes venue operation far easier than traditional or satellite-file-download systems.

“Emerging Pictures is providing an exciting new, and socially responsible, means of delivering content to entertainment venues throughout North America. CDNetworks fully supports this new approach and is providing the robust network infrastructure, CDN technology, and economic model to enable Emerging’s rapid expansion and successful growth in North America and beyond.”
– Steve Liddell, President of CDNetworks International.

Emerging Cinemas has secured North American digital cinema distribution rights to the prestigious La Scala Operas, Salzburg Festival, Glyndebourne Operas, and Bolshoi Ballet company performances. Pop Music artists presented include Bruce Springsteen, The Who, and The Smashing Pumpkins. The company also distributes top-end art house films from leading US and International cinema companies and films from governmental film agencies.

For those following digital media in the Philippines, the Philippine Daily Inquirer is reporting the results of a recent survey, the Yahoo-Nielsen Net Index 2008, conducted by Nielsen Company and Yahoo. The topline is that 28% of Filipinos in urban centers including Manila access the Internet– this is slightly above the world average of approximately 22%.

Only one day after American search leader Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) reported its first quarter-to-quarter drop in sales, demonstrating to investors that even the online ad giant isn’t immune to the global recession, China’s top Internet search company Baidu Inc. (NASDAQ: BIDU) announced that it had seen a significant rise in advertising since late January.

So while the US is still experiencing a contraction in overall advertising expenditures, the Chinese economy has been recovering more quickly in recent months, leading Baidu’s customers to spend more. Baidu’s fourth quarter net profit rose to $42.3 million, up 40% from a year earlier.

Robin Yanhong Li, Founder, Chairman and CEO, Baidu Inc.

“Our data suggests that the confidence of many consumers and companies has been picking up rather rapidly since the Spring Festival [which is the Chinese New Year that took place in late January of this year.]”
–Robin Li, Chairman and CEO, Baidu.

Even with a quicker rebound in the Chinese advertising market, Baidu plans to achieve much of its future revenue growth through international expansion. The company announced plans back in March to add staff to Baidu Japan to add more localized services. According to Li those plans will not change as “the company aims to have 70 percent of total revenue come from overseas markets in 15 years.”

Japanese fashion retailer Fast Retailing Co., Ltd. (TYO: 9983) announced a partnership this week with Chinese e-commerce site Taobao to bring its casual wear brand UNIQLO to China’s online customers. This represents a big move on the part of the Japanese retailer to establish a local online presence in China beyond its 21 retail stores. In 2008, Taobao, a subsidiary of e-commerce giant Alibaba.com Ltd. (HKG: 1688), had nearly 100 million registered users and reported transaction volume of RMB99.96 billion (US$14.62 billion).

Under the agreement, Taobao will host a UNIQLO store on its website as well as employ its technologies to power a standalone UNIQLO retail website. It’s notable that this is the first time that Taobao has shared its technology with a partner’s own website and may represent a new business opportunity for the company to leverage its technology and operational expertise to small and medium businesses looking to move online in China.

“We are excited about the prospect of growing China’s online fashion market through a partnership with world-leading casual wear brand UNIQLO. UNIQLO’s decision to join the lineup of global companies already operating an online store on Taobao underscores the continued and growing strength of online retailing in China, as nearly 100 million people have elected to purchase goods, such as apparel, via the Internet rather than through traditional brick-and-mortar retail.”
– Jonathan Lu, president of Taobao.